IF YOU listen closely while you watch the contestants on My Kitchen Rules fretting about gluggy purees and insufficiently seasoned meats, you might hear the sound of champagne glasses clinking at Channel Seven as the network enjoys the sweet taste of success. MKR is the kind of hit TV folk dream about.

Along with Seven's top-rating import Revenge, the cooking contest is an early standout of the 2012 season. As it powers through its third series notching up bigger ratings than ever before, MKR is proving to be exactly what TV executives hope for from a ''tent pole'' program: it is supporting the whole prime-time schedule, its dominance so consistent over its first six weeks that rival networks have delayed the premieres of some of their shows until it's finished.

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Beyond that - and perhaps against expectations, given that any novelty in the format has faded - MKR is growing in all directions. This year, its season is longer, it is screening on more nights, it is attracting more viewers and there are Kiwi contestants.

Conceived as a spinoff from Seven's My Restaurant Rules (2004-2005), MKR took the basic ingredients of competitive food preparation and state-based competition and put them together.

No doubt inspired by the phenomenal success of the first season of Channel Ten's MasterChef Australia in 2009, MKR first appeared in its tweaked form early in 2010 as a 15-part series that kicked off in contestants' homes. In effect, the teams, consisting of duos in a range of variations - married couples, friends, workmates - had to cater and host a crash-hot themed dinner party. The guests, who would assess their performance, were the other players in the game, as well as regular judges Manu Feildel and Pete Evans. Things heated up further as the contests progressed to ''Kitchen Headquarters'', a whiz-bang warehouse set-up that owed much to MasterChef.

There was good reason to suspect that audiences might have had enough of cooking contests following one enormously popular serving of MasterChef and the first season of MKR, which performed reasonably well but didn't exactly set the TV world on fire, averaging 1.37 million viewers nationally, with the final attracting 1.52 million.

By season two, it had expanded to three nights a week and 33 episodes, averaging 1.46 million viewers, with the final drawing 1.41 million viewers.

But this year, My Kitchen Rules, which started off screening four nights a week but this week expanded to five, has been firing from the get-go.

In its first week, it averaged 1.47 million viewers; last week, it was up to 1.79 million and showing no signs of faltering.

Seven is also quick to point out that when the regional figures are added to the audiences in the mainland capitals, they nudge the 2 million mark which, in these days of multi-channels and a fragmented TV market, ain't chopped liver.

But why, three years on, is My Kitchen Rules running so hot? Seven Network head of production Brad Lyons says: ''We thought we'd produced a really good show and that we had a super cast. That the Australian people have latched on to it is a credit to how it's been put together, how the team has cast the show and worked the competition aspect of it.''

Lyons notes that the current season featured an additional round of home visits before the move to Kitchen HQ and that ''people can form opinions very quickly about the characters in that situation.''

''In many ways, it's a lot like footy: you barrack for Peter and Gary, or you barrack for the WA team, and it's proven that in each market, when their people are cooking, the ratings go up in that market,'' he says.

''Australians are great sports lovers and they're great barrackers and that's one of the key factors.''

As a result of the state-based selection, MKR viewers automatically have a team to cheer for: even before they get to know the players and choose favourites, they can support their home state.

As much as fans enjoy having a team to champion, they also like being able to boo, to have a team that they love to hate. Like any drama, factual or fictional, MKR needs conflict, it needs goodies and baddies, the excitement that comes from clashes as well as the warm, gooey feelings that flow when contestants perform well and earn accolades.

Anyone who saw the MKR promotions during the Australian Open - and it was hard to avoid them - would have thought this year's designated baddie was South Australian ''Princess'' Jennifer, with her twinkling diamond earrings and tart remarks about her rivals garnished with a smug little ''Yeah''.

But that was before gay couple Peter and Gary, a lawyer and doctor from Queensland's Gold Coast, donned their monogrammed aprons and started pouring authentic French champagne while getting sniffy about those who served unremarkable bubbly.

As with any show, the casting is critical and Lyons says, ''We want people who are competitive; we want people who really want to win. This time around, more people wanted to be on the show because they saw it last time, so we had a bigger pool to pick from.''

Once the players are set loose in their kitchens, MKR unreservedly ratchets up the heat, pumping the proceedings for every ounce of impact. ''If I don't get this mousse into the freezer really soon, we're not going to have a dessert!'' a stressed contestant will exclaim. An excessively spicy chilli sauce is nothing short of a catastrophe.

The players feel - and viewers are encouraged to believe - that each course is tantamount to a matter of life or death. The competition is played to the hilt, although Lyons notes that ''it's not all bickering and vindictiveness: there is definitely a celebration when someone does something really well.''

Lyons also observes that ''the dynamic of the couple is very important'' on MKR. On MasterChef, the hopefuls compete as individuals but MKR ''gets a double dip because we get the dynamics of the couples, having a crack at each other or supporting each other and working as a team.''

Given the success of MKR this year, you would expect there might be nerves at Channel Ten, the network that initially took the big risk and programmed a food competition in prime time. With the fourth season of MasterChef poised to fire its burners after Easter, there might be a concern that viewers will have had their fill of food shows.

However, Ten programming chief David Mott says: ''This isn't the first time My Kitchen Rules has been in the same environment as MasterChef. The past two years have proved there is room for two shows and each of them is unique in its own way. There are elements of difference and I think we've proved that both can coexist in the schedule. In fact, it just says that there's a great love of food, which is fantastic.''

But, for now, Seven is relishing its success, having announced a fourth season of MKR after the show's fifth week on air and called for applications from prospective contestants.

Whether there is sufficient audience appetite for two food shows to perform at the current level, attracting a couple of million viewers five or six nights a week for months, remains to be seen.

But at this stage, it seems people can't get enough of Carly and Emily, Manu and Pete, and the overheated energy of My Kitchen Rules.

22 comments so far

With MKR relying more on personalities than cooking there is a real danger that results become manipulated to keep viewers engaged. I know I lossed interest when the two bitchiest teams were sent packing. Also I don't think the cooking skills are so great this season - perhaps because the selection process was biased towards couples who would be interesting rather than great cooks.

Commenter

Basil

Location

Hobart

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 8:49AM

I'm already bored of it, the double round of house visits was just unnecessary, and now it's a case of Day 1 - big cook-off for lots of people, Day 2 - Kitchen HQ themed cook-off, Day 3 - Elimination. Yawn.And the constant dramatic adverts for each new episode "next time on My Kitchen Rules..." cue cut scene of someone looking stressed and some over-the-top music OH MY GOD MAYBE THE TART WON'T SET IN TIME AARRGGGHHHH!!!

Commenter

Chris

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 9:08AM

They look on with fear as the judges cut through the tart, praying that it has set, knowing full well that the hour in between plating up and getting their dish judged will make their tart rock hard.

But the true drama is that - they forgot to fork the pastry. Oh no, the judges will notice this and it's details like this that can cost them the game.

Commenter

Koffee

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 1:26PM

"gay couple Peter and Gary, a lawyer and doctor from Queensland's Gold Coast, donned their monogrammed aprons and started pouring authentic French champagne"

Methinks the word "authentic" is redundant.

Funny thing about MKR and MC - both have the same freelance cameramen, directors, producers, writers and editors working on a "run of show" basis. Which is why both shows sound and look the same. Same people worked on The Renovators too. Very small pool of talent in Australia. The only different personnel are the self-proclaimed geniuses in the exec roles. These are ones who decide that such shows need more elements of Survivor and Amazing Race than cooking.

Commenter

WGAFF

Location

Sydney

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 9:39AM

I just wish it would finish on time and that way I will never have to watch any of the stupid thing. Surely if it's on 5 nights a week then they can edit the show so that it finishes at 8.30.

Commenter

Polly Hannah

Location

Dulwich Hill

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 9:39AM

We simply turn over at 8.30pm regardless of where they are at. Bugger 'em, not going to play the deliberately going over game.

Anyway, the format is so similar to MC that our interest is not there anymore.

Commenter

Phil

Location

Melb

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 10:15AM

Hear! Hear! The enormous overruns are most annoying and I often miss the outcome because I'd rather watch something else at 8.30ish.

Commenter

RM

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 10:57AM

My, my. So many cynical people with a negative attitide! I love MKR. Who cares if some of it is contrived? Its entertainment people! The contestants have undeniable cooking talent and I love that we get to see their personalities as well as their cooking. Go Rocco!

Commenter

Glued

Location

Melbourne

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 9:56AM

It's becoming unwatchable. The blatant viewer manipulation, inconsistent ad breaks and little snippets sandwiched between ads make it quite an unpleasant experience. The narrative - which let's face it is repetitive and shallow - becomes disjointed and stale. We spend most of our time, if we watch it, trying to work out how the show is constructed, how much help the contestants get etc. But we're getting bored with that, too. Hmmm. what else is on?

Commenter

toady

Location

Date and time

March 15, 2012, 10:07AM

I can barely stand myself in the kitchen let alone watching other people. Can't wait till this ends and I don't have to avoid the TV on the off chance I accidentally see it when surfting through.